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UOC–KP Orthodox Bishop of Lutsk-Volyn Considers Statement of Constantinople Rep Fair

04.04.2005, [15:25] // UOC-KP //

Lutsk– The 24 March statement of Archbishop Vsevolod (Majdanski), a representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, in which the archbishop said the patriarchate only recognizes the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate in its pre-1686 boundaries, before the addition of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, is serious and fair. This is according to Bishop Mykhail (Zinkevych) of Lutsk and Volyn of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), who discussed the subject at a press conference of 1 April 2005.

Bishop Mykhail said that the position of the Constantinople Patriarchate concerning the Ukrainian church is a first step, which will undoubtedly activate the process of the Kyivan Patriarchate’s recognition as an autocephalous component of Ecumenical Orthodoxy and as an equal church among other mutually recognized Orthodox churches of the world.

According to the bishop, the statement by the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarch is not an accident, nor a pointless misunderstanding, as the Moscow Patriarchate is trying to portray it. It is taken quite seriously today, since the change in the political situation demonstrates a clear desire from the side of the Ukrainian government to have a single, national church, recognized by the Orthodox world.

According to the bishop, speakers of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow and Kyiv keep silent about the fact that Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople had previously clearly and repeatedly said in his letters to Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Moscow Patriarchate (UOC–MP), that he does not recognize the UOC-MP as a separate church, but considers it a grouping of eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The uncanonical addition of the Kyiv Metropolitanate to the Moscow Patriarchate was stressed both in the text of a 1924 Tomos to the Orthodox Autocephalous Church in Poland, and in the letter of Patriarch Demetrius of Constantinople to Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow of 10 January 1991.

Bishop Mykhail furthermore said that Patriarch Bartholomew’s intention to support recognition of the Kyivan Patriarchate has already been supported by respective actions: even the presence of a Constantinople delegation in Ukraine, not previously agreed with Moscow, says that Constantinople does not think it necessary to coordinate its actions with the Russian Church, because it does not acknowledge its claims of canonical jurisdiction over Ukraine.

According to the bishop, political developments in Ukraine have clearly demonstrated that some UOC–MP hierarchs do not want the Ukrainian church to be autocephalous, do not understand the spiritual needs of Ukrainians and the signs of the times, and, with their attachment to Moscow, pose an ever increasing threat to the spiritual and national development of the Ukrainian state.

Finally, the bishop said, Orthodox Ukrainians need to understand that proclaiming autocephaly (self-rule) and struggling for its recognition is the only way of attaining a truly Ukrainian church, since the holy canons do not make clear provisions for ways to create an autocephalous church. Hence, he said, it is necessary today to unite around the Kyivan Patriarchate, a strong spiritual backbone of the Ukrainian nation, and to publicly defend one’s holy right to be a member of an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox church that is generally recognized and equal among other Orthodox churches.

Source: press service of the Lutsk and Volyn eparchy of the UOC-KP